15 Ways to Live a Healthier Life

Our moods tend to follow the seasons, and these changes can be powerful. Though I lived in Honolulu where the season changes are subtle, my body felt different throughout the year. While healthy living becomes a prominent factor in the spring and summer, there's never a bad time of year to analyze whether or not you're taking the steps to live the happiest and healthiest life that you can.

Run for Five Minutes Every Day: A large study of more than 55,000 adults found that those who ran five minutes a day lived three years longer. The benefits were the same no matter how long or far they ran. In other words, a person who ran less than one hour a week had the same benefit as a runner who ran for three hours a week.

Drink Coffee: Drinking three or four cups of coffee a day caused a lower risk of death from any cause. The study included over 973,000 people.

Volunteer: People who give get back. A review of multiply studies found those who volunteer have a 20 percent reduction in mortality and lower levels of depression. Giving enhances their satisfaction with life.

Have Great Sex: This is hard to believe but true. A Duke University research project spanning over fifteen years found that women who enjoyed sex lived 23 years longer on average!

Stand Up: For those who do not exercise regularly, if you stand more you could lower your mortality rate, says the Canada Fitness Survey.

Look on the Not-So-Bright Side of Things: “A person with a positive attitude is blessed with a powerful tool in their 'good life' arsenal. But it has been proven that those of us with a little pessimism are more realistic and less idealistic about our lives; therefore more cautious and tend to live longer than our optimistic friends,” says Dr. Oz.